Use this article to find out what Stackably costs: which features are free, which services carry a cost, and how to get a quote for your business. Short answer: the software is free. We believe business software should be free, so we don't charge for it: no licence, no per-user fee, no monthly subscription for the platform. We only make money when we add value on top of the software, through the services and integrations that run on it. That keeps our interests lined up with yours: we do well only when you do.

You never pay for the Stackably software itself. Everything below is included with every Stackably account at no charge.

Customers and CRM. Clients, leads, relationships and vendors with full profiles, notes, tags, custom fields, family links, guardian details, client credits, import and export, and sales pipelines to track leads from first contact to won.

Scheduling. Services with online self-booking links, the appointment calendar and events.

Memberships and contracts. Recurring and subscription memberships, digital contracts and waivers with e-signature, autopay and payment plans.

Point of sale and inventory (Shop+). Products, variants, modifier groups, scheduled menus, categories and tags, the inventory hub with stock receiving, lots and expiry dates, stocktakes, bills of materials and costing reports, orders, discounts and coupon codes, wholesale applications, product reviews and POS reports.

Invoicing and finance. Invoices with templates and categories, quick sale, payment links and cards on file, the finance dashboard, and the two-way QuickBooks Online sync.

Loyalty. The Points & Rewards loyalty program, with status tiers, referrals and points shared across locations, is free.

Marketing tools. Pipelines, SmartLists, retention tracking, one-way text alerts and reminders to your customers, and your Community with posts, groups, notifications and a customer app login.

Everything else you find in the menu. The dashboard and reports, the file manager, documents, employee management, the customer-facing display, the admin app for your phone. If it is a feature in the Stackably software, it is free.

Restaurant note: Stackably is built for quick-service and counter-service restaurants. Kitchen display screens (KDS), kitchen printers, recipes and ingredient tracking are all included in the software. Stackably does not offer table management (table maps, seats or tableside ordering) and is not a fit for full-service restaurants.

What does cost money with Stackably is the services that run on top of the free software: payment processing, the Marketing Stack, two-way texting, the AI Website Builder, hardware, the network where your setup requires it, and some integrations. Each is explained below.

Payment processing. Card and ACH processing is where we earn our living, and it is the one thing every account uses. We promote, but do not require, dual pricing. With dual pricing your terminal shows two prices for every sale: a cash price and a slightly higher card price. When items are created in our system the cash price is entered and our system provides guidance to create the correct card price. Customers who pay by card pay the card price, and the difference covers your processing, so your cost of accepting cards falls to close to zero. Unlike older "cash discount" programs, there is no fee line added to the receipt; there are simply two prices, which is the approach the card brands have endorsed as compliant. All you need is a small sign at the point of sale letting customers know you offer a card price and a discounted cash price.

While Stackably works hard to ensure our system is fully compliant with Visa rules, we cannot control how the business displays our pricing on the shelf or menu. Remember that true dual pricing requires that both the cash and card price are shown everywhere prices are listed. This is what Visa will require to pass a compliance check or secret shopper. If a merchant is displaying only the cash price and charging a higher card price at the register and this is discovered, either from a customer complaint or secret shopper, the merchant will receive a fine from Visa. Currently these fees start at $1,000 but vary.

Stackably also offers the ability to create a separate price for ACH transactions. This is helpful, especially for card-not-present merchants that want to offer differential pricing. Our team works with businesses to ensure this is set up correctly in our system.

If dual pricing isn't right for your business, we also offer flat-rate pricing and interchange-plus pricing, where you pay the processing cost yourself. Your local Stackably partner will walk you through which one fits you and put the rates in writing.

Here is how it looks on our terminal (P3H): a $20.00 quick sale shows Card $20.80, Cash $20.00, Gift Card $20.00 and ACH $20.20 before the customer chooses how to pay.

And here is how it looks on our tablet point of sale (P3 Mix).

Marketing Stack: $10 per month. The Marketing Stack is $10 a month and includes email marketing, automation workflows and chat. The pipeline and marketing tracking tools around them stay free. See What is the Stackably Marketing Stack? for what is included.

Two-way texting and text marketing: $29 per month. One-way text alerts (appointment reminders, receipts, notifications) are free. If you want to run text marketing campaigns and have customers reply to you from your own business number, the texting plan is $29 a month, with extra texts beyond your plan at 2¢ each. Carriers require A2P registration for this, and Stackably covers the brand and campaign registration fees on your behalf. See Text Messaging on Stackably: How It Works.

AI Website Builder: $50 per month. The online store and online ordering page are included free. If you also want a full business website, the AI Website Builder is $50 a month, which covers building the site and the ongoing hosting, security and updates. There is no set-up fee.

Hardware. Terminals and other equipment carry a monthly cost. We do our best to keep hardware costs down, and what you pay depends on the size of your account, how many devices you need and a few other variables, so we customise it for each client rather than publishing one price. Talk directly to your local Stackably partner about hardware; they will put together the right equipment and the right cost for your situation.

Network: $10 per month per location, when your setup requires it. If you have a printer in the kitchen or anywhere away from the counter, or a kitchen display screen, your location needs the pre-configured Ubiquiti network we provide. The basic network is $10 a month and appears as its own line on your proposal. A printer at the counter beside your terminal does not require it on its own. Some locations, such as a kitchen far from the counter or a large space, need additional networking at an additional cost, quoted for your location. The optional 5G internet backup is $20 a month and runs on this network. See Networking at Stackably.

Other integrations and services. From time to time we add integrations and services that have a real cost to provide, such as connections to third-party platforms, add-on services or work we do on your behalf. Where that is the case, we charge for it and we tell you before you turn it on. Nothing is switched on or billed without your say-so.

To get a quote for Stackably, speak with your local Stackably partner, or reach us through the Help bubble in the app and we will connect you with one. Because processing rates, hardware and add-ons are tailored to each business, that is the fastest way to know exactly what you'd pay. Bring a recent processing statement if you have one; it makes the comparison quick and honest.